Collapsible container



Aug 1927 1 s. s. WHELAN COLLAPSIBLE CONTAINER .Filed July 6, 1923 fjwvenboc @320?? (5 14076700.

Pata at 23, 1927.

NITED STATES 1,639,759 PATENT OFFICE.

SIDNEY s. wnum, or warrant, new You:

- conmr'smn'n commas.

Application fled m 6, 1928. Serial Io. 848,810.

This invention relates to containers. More s ecifically the invention relates to colla si le containers and has for one of its jects to provide a sealed 'collapslble container adapted to contain tobacco and provided with. a manually operable means for opening the container.- Other objects and advantages will appearv as the invention is hereinafter disclosed. 7

Referring to the drawings which illustrate what I consider a preferred form of the invention:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of a container.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a detail view of the openmg means.

Fig. 4 is a detail elevation of the upper end of the container before completion of the folding.

Fig. 5 is an elevation of the upper end of the container shown in Fig. 1, the view being taken from the opposite side and illustrating the position of parts during the opening operation. v

While the container may be made in other shapes and of other materials I prefer at present to construct it in the form of a tube-preferably a seamless tube 10 of foil, such as tin foil, having a closed bottom 11. The upper endl12 of the container 10 is shown closed or sealed by flattening it (see Fig. 2). If desirable, the upper end of the container may be .cemented in addition to being closed by-flattening.

It will be understood, of course, that the tobacco or'other material will be placed in the container before the closing or sealing operation. The container is provided with means for rupturing and opening the upper end to render the contents accessible. While this means ma consist of wire or similar device within t e scope of the invention as hereinafter defined in certain of the claims, I prefer at present to employ the de vice shown in Fig. 3 and which I shall now.

proceed to describe.

The container-opening device is preferably constructed of sheet metal, such as tin, and comprises a knife or cutting portion 14 having disc-like ends 13, each shown provided with an aperture or opening 15. After the container 10 is closed or sealed as described above and shown in Fig. 4, it

shown in Fig. 2, and the folds pressed together to form the finished article illustrated in Fi 1. The container so formed is especia ly adapted to contain and preserve tobacco since it is effectively sealed and. impervious to moisture, vermin, etc. The container may be readil opened as follows.

One of the ends 13 o the opening device is grasped by the hand, or a suitable tool such as a match stem inserted throu h its opening 15, and" the said end pulle upwardly, i. e., away from the container 10 in a direction longitudinally of the container: During this operation the upper edge of the cutting portion 14 acts as a cutting or shearing edge and cuts through the container on a plane containing the device 1314 (see Fig. 5); i. e., on the line 16 indicated in Fig. 4. In this manner the upper, sealed end of the container is com-- is employed to hold tobaccoreadily poured into a pipe or ci arette paper. When it is desired to close t e opened container, this may readily be effected by pinching or folding the upper end together. As the contents of the container diminish the upper end may be rolled, or folded, or otherwise collapsed so as to decrease the size of the container commensurate with the volume of the remaining contents. 1

If the portion 14 of the shearing device is constructed of sufiicientl thin material its upper or cutting edge Fig. 5) will be sufliciently sharp to shear t rough the foil. If this portion 14 is constructed of thick material it may be sharpened at its upper edge to provide a cutting edge.

In employing the word foil I means thin sheet plastic metal such as that commonly employed in tubular containers for A tooth paste, shaving cream, etc.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have herein described the principle of operation of m invention, together with the apparatus w ich I now consider to represent the best embodiments thereof, but I desire to have it understood that the apparatus disclosed is only illusnative and that the invention can be carfolded upon itself, and. a shearing device ried out by other means. having a shearing portion enclosed by said 1 What I claim is 3 I flattened andiolded ehdof said container In combination, a substantially tubular Wholly exterior ofzthe container.-

5 normally sealed container constructed of In testimony whereof I hereto affix my foil and adapted to be collapsed to conform signature, to diminishing volumes of the contents, one end of said container being flattened and i v SIDNEY S. WHELAN. 

